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All posts for the month June, 2016

I had always had an aversion to making a specific trip to Las Vegas. Everything it stood for, in my mind, was not really something I had a great desire to be a part of. However, as part of a broader holiday into California and in wanting to see the Grand Canyon, it felt like an ideal starting point on a road trip.

The first thing that struck me about the city was that as you fly towards it from the UK, you see a barren, largely deserted landscape for a good while before a brightly-lit beacon that is Las Vegas comes into view…quite literally like a desert oasis.

The whole of the main strip feels like it is largely superficial and for show, but for a couple of days it was really great entertainment (any longer and I think I would tire of it very quickly). There is just so much going on which is fun to observe and be a part of (and often you don’t need to spend any money) and even if you don’t gamble (which I didn’t), the hotels themselves are tourist attractions in their own right – I got the impression that they are all competing to try to get you into their casino so that you will lose your money there. Just walking down the strip can easily keep you entertained for half a day or more.

A couple of points of note…if you decide to do the rides on top of the Stratosphere, be warned that having an aversion to heights may make you think twice. Make sure you take in a show too (why not?). Where else can you see the Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, Venetian gondolas (indoors!), Pyramids and more on the same street? It is remarkable…and like nowhere else.

Arizona contains the world-famous Grand Canyon. There are a number of ways to get there of course but we chose to go by helicopter from Las Vegas (in Nevada) which, while more expensive, means you save quite a lot of time and land down in the canyon itself. It certainly makes you feel small.

As the helicopter headed in to the site (playing the theme music from Indiana Jones), the thing that strikes you most is surely the size of the canyon. It is BIG! It is quite incredible how the ground seems to disappear away beneath you. America has so many vast landscapes that it is hard to do it justice with a camera at times.

For somewhere that looks so barren and devoid of life, it was interesting to see squirrels in the area, and of course plant life by the Colorado River.

In the same holiday as visiting Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks, I was spoilt enough to also visit the hottest place on earth I have ever been…Death Valley. It reached a whopping 49C while here (photographic evidence below)! A dry heat (thank heaven it wasn’t humid) which was incredible to experience.

Just across the border from Nevada, in California, it is possibly one of the most fascinating places I have ever been as it is so different from anywhere else I can think of. It is the lowest point below sea level in North America (282 feet below).

And yes, there is life here. Even on a large salt flat, there are snails living in the water at the edge. There are birds which hug the shade of the Furnace Creek hotel…and drink water from the blades of grass (man-made rain!). Some amazing rock formations and of course, desert sand dunes.

Just be careful when you venture here, take plenty of water and turn your air conditioning off (yes, you read that right) in case your car overheats!

The attentive reader may recall an older post I did regarding the largest tree in New Zealand, Tane Mahuta (see it again by clicking here).

I thought I would mention a trip I once made to Sequoia National Park in California to witness the enormous Sequoia trees there. Hopefully the photos will illustrate just how vast they are…and here lives General Sherman, the largest living tree on Earth by volume.

Interestingly, sequoia seeds require fire to germinate and therefore they carry out controlled burnings to facilitate this process and thus preserve this incredible tree for the future.

If you are ever in California and you are thinking of visiting Yosemite, make sure you also see Sequoia…nothing prepares you for this…even on pictures…

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